What’s hot at Broadway Licensing Global? Check out the top trending titles of the week from Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts.
The Marvelous Wonderettes by Roger Bean
This smash Off-Broadway hit takes you to the 1958 Springfield High School prom, where we meet Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy: four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts! As we learn about their lives and loves, the girls serenade us with classic ‘50s hits including “Lollipop,” “Dream Lover,” “Stupid Cupid,” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” In Act II, the Wonderettes reunite to take the stage and perform at their ten-year reunion. We learn about the highs and lows the girls have experienced in the past decade and are charmed to find that no matter what life throws their way, they will conquer it together. Featuring over 30 classic ’50s and ’60s hits, The Marvelous Wonderettes will keep you smiling in this must-take musical trip down memory lane!
A Rock Sails By by Sean Grennan
Astrophysicist Dr. Lynn Cummings has always believed in science over faith in the unknown. But now that her life is changing, the certainty that was once a source of comfort has become a source of emptiness. When an unidentified flying object is sighted heading toward Earth, she grants an interview to a journalist who misquotes her. With her credibility on the line, she invites him to witness the object as it comes closest to the Earth with her. Dr. Cummings hopes it will pass without incident, but there is no telling what she will discover beyond the stars.
Fast Food by Tracy Wells
When you’re hungry for hilarity but short on time and tight on budget, where do you turn? Why, the one-act play Fast Food, of course! From crazy customers to screwy staff, this vignette-style collection of scenes will satisfy your craving for fast food fun while offering a simple set and an entirely flexible and expandable cast.
Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner
An aspiring young director rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be. In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Aaron Posner stages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all. Original songs composed by James Sugg draw the famously subtextual inner thoughts of Chekhov’s characters explicitly to the surface. STUPID FUCKING BIRD will tickle, tantalize, and incite you to consider how art, love, and revolution fuel your own pursuit of happiness.
The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1934, THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN is a strange comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. As word arrives on Inishmaan that the Hollywood director Robert Flaherty is coming to the neighboring island of Inishmore to film Man of Aran, the one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Cripple Billy, if only to break away from the bitter tedium of his daily life.
Warrior Class by Kenneth Lin
When Assemblyman Julius Lee makes a bid for Congress, the ghosts of his college days come back to haunt him. Nothing reveals true colors like a sprint to the finish, when friends become enemies and allies can turn on a dime. WARRIOR CLASS is a political battle of race, romance, forgiveness and debt.
Tartuffe (Wilbur) by Molière, translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur
The story takes place in the home of the wealthy Orgon, where Tartuffe—a fraud and a pious imposter—has insinuated himself. He succeeds magnificently in winning the respect and devotion of the head of the house, and then tries to marry his daughter and seduce his wife and scrounge the deed to the property. He nearly gets away with it, but an emissary from King Louis XIV arrives in time to recover the property, free Monsieur Orgon, and haul Tartuffe off to jail. And so his duplicity is finally exposed and punished. But not before the author has mercilessly examined the evil that men can commit in the guise of religious fervor and the dangers that imperil those who would believe only what they choose to believe despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
Becky Shaw by Gina Ginofriddo
In Gina Gionfriddo’s BECKY SHAW, a newlywed couple fixes up two romantically challenged friends: wife’s best friend, meet husband’s sexy and strange new co-worker. When an evening calculated to bring happiness takes a dark turn, crisis and comedy ensue in this wickedly funny play that asks what we owe the people we love and the strangers who land on our doorstep.
Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller
The story revolves around the last days of Willy Loman, a failing salesman, who cannot understand how he failed to win success and happiness. Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations of the life he has lived with his wife, his sons, and his business associates, we discover how his quest for the “American Dream” kept him blind to the people who truly loved him. A thrilling work of deep and revealing beauty that remains one of the most profound classic dramas of the American theatre.
Peter/Wendy by Jeremy Bloom
In this lyrical, atmospheric interpretation of Peter Pan, Jeremy Bloom strips the familiar story down to its emotional essence. Peter lures Wendy away from her nursery to the magical world of Neverland, where she joins his adventures with Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, and the menacing Captain Hook. A low-tech, inventive adaptation that pays homage to the darker themes of J. M. Barrie’s original, Peter/Wendy will mesmerize audiences of all ages.
